The appointment of chief supply chain officers to top management teams: A contingency model of firm‐level antecedents and consequences

• Date: 01 May 2016
• Author: Ryan Krause,Joseph Roh,Morgan Swink
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2016.05.001
• Published date: 01 May 2016

The appointment of chief supply chain officers to top management

teams: A contingency model of firm-level antecedents and

consequences

Joseph Roh

a

,

*

, Ryan Krause

b

, Morgan Swink

a

a

Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA

b

Department of Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA

article info

Article history:

Received 11September 2015

Received in revised form

2 May 2016

Accepted 4 May 2016

Available online 11May 2016

Handling Editor: Mikko Ketokivi

Keywords:

Chief supply chain officer (CSCO)

Top management team (TMT)

Functional executive

Integration and differentiation tension

Contingency theory

Mimetic isomorphism

abstract

This study investigates the recent emergence of Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs). Drawing on con-

tingency theory, we analyze firm-level antecedents and consequences associated with CSCOs being

appointed to top management teams (TMTs). We conceptually develop the role of CSCOsand hypothesize

that CSCOs are most likely to be appointed toTMTs at firms where supply chain-related integration and

differentiation pressures are high. The results from a matched sample of S&P 1500 firms over a 21-year

period reveal that financial leverage, internationalization, and diversification all predict CSCO appoint-

ment to the TMT. Our results also suggest that these same contingenciespositively moderate the effectof

CSCO presence on firm performance, with CSCOs proving beneficial when leverage, internationalization,

and diversification levels are high, but detrimental when leverage, internationalization, and diversifi-

cation are low. In addition, we find post-hoc evidence that suggests institutional forces may also be a

factor in CSCO appointments. Our results reveal that most of the contingency performance effects

manifest only for early adopters of the CSCO role, suggesting that late-mover elevation of the supply

chain function to the TMT is a form of mimetic isomorphism. This study extends research on CSCOs and

their emergence in TMTs, as well as the role of operations management in corporate strategy.

©2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

More and more firms are appointing chief supply chain officers

(CSCO) to their top management teams (TMT) (Hendricks et al.,

2014). Recent research indicates that the number of CSCOs in

large firms more than doubled in several industries between 2004

and 2009 (Wagner and Kemmerling, 2014). This emerging phe-

nomenon is noteworthy, given that just a decade ago supply chain

executives “rarely reported directly to the CEO; [and] the function

was somewhat removed from the concerns of top management”

(Groysberg et al., 2011, p. 66). The increase in CSCO appointments

appears consistent with the claims of both early and recent oper-

ations management researchers, who argue that operations capa-

bilities are crucial sources of competitive advantage in many

corporations (Skinner, 1969, 2007;Hayes and Wheelwright, 1984;

Wheelwright, 1984; Krause et al., 2014) and that operations exec-

utives should play active roles in strategic decision-making (Papke-

Shields and Malhotra, 2001; Swamidass and Newell, 1987; Hayes

and Wheelwright 1984;Demeester et al., 2014). Though these as-

sertions originally referenced manufacturing operations, they are

easily extended to the broader view of operations that dominates

current research and practice, the management of supply chain

operations. Indeed, the growth of CSCOs mirrors the manifest in-

creases in outsourcing over the last few decades, along with the

rising importance of procurement, distribution, and planning

functions that span corporate boundaries. Along with

manufacturing (if it is still in-sourced), these functions comprise

strategically critical operations for corporations today.

In light of the rising number of CSCO appointments and the

growing importance of CSCO roles (e.g., Kador, 2012; Sigismondi,

2011), more research on CSCOs is needed. To our knowledge,

Wagner and Kemmerling's (2014) work is currently the only aca-

demic study to specifically focus on CSCOs. Wagner and

Kemmerling (2014) investigate differences in CSCO presence

across industries, TMT attributes that predict CSCO presence (e.g.,

*Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: Joe.Roh@tcu.edu (J. Roh), R.Krause@tcu.edu (R. Krause), M.

Swink@tcu.edu (M. Swink).

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Operations Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jom

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2016.05.001

0272-6963/©2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal of Operations Management 44 (2016) 48e61